Barbed felting needle for use in needle looms or interlacing machines



Dec. 22, 1953 A. T. DlNHAM 6 BARBED FELTING NEEDL OR USE IN NEEDLE LOOMS OR INTERL. v NG MACHINES Filed NOV. 26,

INVENTOR.

Arr/J Patented Dec. 22, 1953 BARBED FELTIN G NEEDLE FOR USE IN NEEDLE LOOMS R, INTERLACIN G MACHINES Alfred ThomasDinham, Grabbs Cross, Redditch, England, assignor to Needle Industries Limited, Birmingham, England, a British company and William Bywater Limited, Leeds, England, a

British company Application November 26, 1951, Serial No. 258,252

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 28, 1950 4 Claims.

v This invention relates to barbed felting needles of the kind comprising a shank provided with barbs on one portion of its length near one end of the shank, the shank adjacent the other end thereof being adapted to be inserted within one of a large number of holes provided in a needle holder usually constructed in the form of a wooden boardor strip, means being provided for retaining each needle in place Within the holder.

Suchneedles are used in manufacturing felt in, for examplaneedle looms or interlacing machines wherein a moreor less loose wad or lap of 'materia'llis treated. by pricking fibres through one anotherand/or through a base of hesian,'

stout paper or other strengthening fibre'or fabric utilising the needles aforesaid so as to produce the required felt.

,felting'needles of the aforegoing kind, it'

is very necessarythat eachneedle should be secured rigidly against movement in a direction bothlaterally and longitudinally of the shank relation to the holder, and one possible way of achieving this is to provide the end of the shank remote from the barbed portion thereof with-a head, the barbed. portion of each needle being first passed through the appropriate hole in the holder bringing the under side of the head into engagement with the outer face of the holder, a retaining member usually in the form of a board or stripbeing then secured to the holder so-that each needle head is held between the holder and the retaining member.

With such anarrangement it is necessary for each hole in the holder to be of a cross section appreciably greater than the root cross section of the barbed portion of the shank to allow for the passage through the holder holes of the projecting barbs.

The barbs are formed by a chiselling operation so that the metal on the adjacent part of the shank is displaced outwardly, thereby lo- 7 cally increasing the overall diameter or cross section 'of the shank by an appreciable amount. Accordingly if the unbarbed portion of the shank is to have tight engagement with the interior of its associated holder hole, as is necessary if the needles are to be secured rigidly against lateral movement relative to the holder, the unbarbed portion of the shank which is within the holes must have a cross section appreciably greater than the root cross section of the shank part on which the barbs are formed.

Needles are invariably formed from a long length of wire from which a needle blankof initially uniform cross section is out, and one possible way of meeting the foregoing problem would be to subject the barb-receiving portionof each needle blank to a reducing operation either by swaging or by grinding it to a cross section substantially less than that of the remainder of the blank, after which the barbs are formed by the chiselling method already described.

In all barbed felting needles it is necessary after barbing to harden the barbed portion of the shank including the barbs themselves, and this hardening operation imposedon an already locally hardened metal must necessarily be provided a barbed felting needle comprising an intermediate shank portion of uniform crosssection along its length, a barbed lower shank portion at the lower end of the intermediate shank portion and said barbed lower shank portion having a cross-sectional area not significantly less than the cross-sectional area of the intermediate shank portion and the barbsprojecting outwardly from the body of said barbed lower shank portion so that the overall crosssectional dimensions of said barbed lower shank portion are greater than the overall cross-sec tional dimensions of the intermediate shank portion, a pointed end portion at the lower end of the barbed lower shank portion, an upper shank portion composed of a continuation of the intermediate shank portion and a doubled back portion said continuation and doubled back portion being juxtaposed and parallel to provide the upper shank portion the overall cross-sectional dimensions of which are at least as great as the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the barbed lower shank portion, and a connecting portion extending transversely to the length of the remainder of the needle and extending between the upper ends of the continuation and doubled back portion to provide a head.

The present invention permits of holes being formed. in a holder to circular or other configuration having a maximum diameter corresponding substantially to twice the diameter of the wire itself so that the upper shank portion may be located tightly within its associated hole, the cross section of which may be made sufficiently large as to permit of the barbed lower shank portion being passed freely therethrough without the extremities of the barbs catching on the sides of the hole.

At the same time significant reduction of the cross sectional area of the blank on which the barbs are to be formed, with consequent local work-hardening, is avoided so that the disadvantages arising from the possible method of manufacture above referred to are avoided, and when the barbed portion of the needle is subjected to its hardening operation after barbing, a uniformly hard product maybe obtained in which the barbs themselves are neither too hard nor too soft, and

in which undue local hardening of the barbed lower shank portion is avoided, so that this retains a high degree of flexibility as is necessary if fracture of the needle during use is to be avoided.

In addition to the foregoing advantage, a further advantage of the present invention is that the cost of production of the needle is particularly low, being lower than that of the swaged or ground needle above referred to, the operations required for the production of the present needle without any significant work-hardening occur- L;

ring.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view to an enlarged scale showing one form of felting needle in accordance with this invention.

Figure 2 is a part-sectional end view of a needle holder carrying a plurality of needles of the form depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view to an enlarged scale on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of Figure 2 in which is indicated also the position of one of the needle holder holes in relation to the barbed portion of the needle shank when this is being inserted through the hole.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view similar to Figure 3, but showing a modification.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, the needle illustrated in Figure 1, which is indicated generally at H), is formed by taking a length of wire stock of round form and of uniform cross section throughout its length, the stock being severed in known manner into lengths and being made preferably of a medium carbon steel having a carbon content of between and 35%.

One end portion of each length or needle blank is shaped to provide a body of triangular form in cross section as shown in Figure 4, such shaping operation being effected without significantly reiducing the cross sectional area of this part of the blank so that the shaping operation does not subject the metal to significant work-hardening.

The extremity of this triangular shaped portion of the blank is then pointed in manner customary in needle manufacturing practice to form a point ll.

Each of the longitudinal corner edges l2 of the triangular body portion of the blank is now barbed, such barbing being effected by a threebladed chisel operated in a direction away from the point I I towards the opposite end of the blank so as to form on each corner edge I2 three barbs [3, the three barbs on each corner edge 12 being staggered longitudinally of the blank in relation to those on each of the other two edges, and it will be understood that the invention is in no way restricted to the provision of such particular number or arrangement of barbs.

The blank is thus formed with a barbed portion indicated generally at M which constitutes the lower portion of the needle shank.

The opposite end of the wire blank is doubled back on itself to provide two juxtaposed substantially parallel overlapping parts l5, N5, of which the formerv is constituted by the end portion of the. wire blank, and the latter constitutes an integral continuation of the barbed porion M, such two parts being joined integrally by a connecting part 11 of loop-like configuration extending at right angles to the length of the remainder of the so-formed needle so as to form a head.

The extent of the barbing is such that the overall diameter of the barbed portion, i. e. measured across the extremities of the barbs, is appreciably less 7 than they maximum transverse dimensionof its upper shank portion I8. The portion of the needle where the two parts l5, l5 overlap constitutes the upper shank portion indicated generally at 18.,

The barbed portion M of each so-forrned needle is finally hardened and tempered by heatin such portion to a temperature of approximately 780 C. followed by quenching in oil at room temperature 7, and re-heating to a temperature of between 250 C. and 300 C.

The needles are mounted in aneedle holder comprising a wooden board l9 formed with a large number of closely spaced holes 29 extending through the board between opposite faces thereof, the thickness of the board being substantially equal to the length of the upper shank portion !8, i. e. is appreciably less than the sum of two diameters of the round wire blank.

Each hole 25 is, as shown, of circular form of diameter the same as, or preferably very slightly less than the maximum transverse dimension of the upper shank portion [8, i. e. of diameter very slightly less than thesum of two blank diameters.

Thus each hole 20 is of a cross sectional area sufficient to permit of the free passage there.- through of each barbed portion l4 without fear of the extremities of the barbs catching on the sides of the hole as will be apparent from Figure 4, wherein the position which the periphery of the hole occupies during such insertion of the barbed portion therethrough is indicated in outline at 20.

At the same time the opposite non-adjacent sides of the upper shank portion 18 have tight engagement with opposite sides of the 'hole'Zil when the needle is fully in position, as is clearly shown in Figure 3. Thu each needle is effecacc'sbcs tlvelylocated against lateralmovement rela tion'to the'holder l9.-

,After the needles havebeen' mounted in the holder in the foregoing way with their heads H in abutment with ;the;adjacent ior upper face 2! of the holder 9, a retaining member 22, preferably in the form of a wooden board, is secured to such face 2! of the holder so that each needle head is held rigidly between the opposed faces of the holder and retainer member so as thereby to be efiectively located against axial or longitudinal movement relative to the holder.

By forming each head H of loop-like configuration, the head is in contact withv a relatively substantial'portion of both the holder and retainer member, thereby increasing the effectiveness with which the needle i held against longitudinal or axial movement.

Although in the particular. above-described embodiment of the invention the needle is formed from round wire blank, it should-be understood that the present invention is in no way restricted to such particular blank section.

If desired the two juxtaposed parts I5, [6 constituting the upper shank portion of the needle may be secured together by soldering or brazing in addition to the connection therebetween provided by the integral head 17. For instance, they may be soldered or brazed together at a number of positions spaced along the length of the upper shank portion as indicated at 23 in Figure 1.

Alternatively, they may be secured additionally together by an outer sleeve 24 of circular form as shown in Figure 5, the external diameter of which corresponds to the internal diameter of the holder hole 20. Thus in this latter construction, the overall dimension of the upper shank portion is somewhat greater than twice the diameter of the wire itself, and in all of the abovedescribed constructions, the upper shank portion has an overall dimension in at least one direction substantially greater than the maximum diameter of the wire itself.

What I claim then is: 1. A barbed felting needle comprising an intermediate shank portion of uniform cross-section along its length, a barbed lower shank portion at the lower end of the intermediate shank portion and said barbed lower shank portion having a cross-sectional area not significantly less than the cross-sectional area of the intermediate shank portion and the barbs projecting outwardly from the body of said barbed lower shank portion so that the overall cross-sectional dimensions of said barbed lower shank portion are greater than the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the intermediate shank portion, a pointed end portion at the lower end of the barbed lower shank portion, an upper shank portion composed of a continuation of the intermediate shank portion and a doubled back portion said continuation and doubled back portion being juxtaposed and parallel to provide the upper shank portion the overall cross-sectional dimensions of which are at least as great as the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the barbed lower shank portion, and a connecting portion extending transverse- 1y to the length of the remainder of the needle and extending between the upper ends or the continuation and doubled back portion to provideahead.

2. A barbed felting needle comprising an intermediate shank portion of uniform circular cross-section along its length, a barbed lower shank portion at the lower end of the intermethe intermediate shank portionand said barbed lower shank portion having a body of triangular cross-section and the barbs projecting outwardly from the corners of the triangular body so that the overall cross-sectional dimensions of said barbed lower shank portion are greater than the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the intermediate shank portion, a pointed end portion at the lower end of the barbed lower shank portion, an upper shank portion composed of a continuation of the intermediate shank portion and a doubled back portion said continuation and doubled back portion being juxtaposed and parallel to provide the upper shank portion the overall cross-sectional dimensions of which are atleast as great as the overallcross-sectional dimensions of the barbed lower shank portion, and a connecting portion extending transversely to the lengthof the remainder of the needle and extending between the upper ends of the continuation and doubled back portion to provide a head.

3. A barbed felting needle comprising an intermediate shank portion of uniform cross-section along its length, a barbed lower shank portion at the lower end of the intermediate shank portion and said barbed lower shank portion having a cross-sectional area not significantly less than the cross-sectional area of the intermediate shank portion and the barbs projecting outwardly from the body of said barbed lower shank portion so that the overall crosssectional dimensions of said barbed lower shank portion are greater than the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the intermediate shank portion, a pointed end portion at the lower end of the barbed lower shank portion, an upper shank portion composed of a continuation of the intermediate shank portion and a doubled back portion said continuation and doubled back portion being juxtaposed and parallel to provide the upper shank portion the overall cross-sectional dimensions of which are at least as great as the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the barbed lower shank portion, and a connecting portion of loop-like configuration extending transversely to the length of the remainder of the needle and extending between the upper ends of the continuation and doubled back portion to provide a head.

4. A barbed felting needle comprising an intermediate shank portion of uniform circular cross-section along its length, a barbed lower shank portion at the lower end of the intermediate shank portion and said barbed lower shank portion having a body of triangular cross-section and the barbs projecting outwardly from the corners of the triangular body so that the overall cross-sectional dimensions of said barbed lower shank portion are greater than the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the intermediate portion, a pointed end portion at the lower end of the barbed lower shank portion, an upper shank portion composed of a continuation of the intermediateshank portion and a doubled back portion said continuation and doubled back portion being juxtaposed and parallel to provide the upper shank portion the overall crosssectional dimensions of which are at least as reat as the overall cross-sectional dimensions of the barbed lower shank portion, and a con- 5 necti'ng Portion of 100pv like-- configunati n x Number: tending transversely to the length of the re- 1,800,499 meinder of the needle and,- extending between 2-,322,5'73 the upper ends. of the continuation and doubled 2,391,560 back. portion to provide a, head. 5

ALFRED THOMAS DINHAM.

Number References Cited in the file of this patent 22,695

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Salisbury Mar. 29, 1898 Name Date Bettison Apr. 4,, 1931 Foster June .,1 4 Foster Dec. 25, 1945.

FOREIGN PATENTS Coun ry Date Germany ne -F- Aug. 17,, 1901 

